Lyft reportedly tried to sell itself to Uber and several other companies, but failed

Lyft tried to sell itself to several companies, but came up
short, according to The
New York Times.

Lyft reportedly approached General Motors, Apple, Google, Amazon,
Uber, and Didi Chuxing about selling the ride-hailing company.
The most serious discussions were with GM, one of the largest
Lyft investors, but a written offer was never made.

"There is no shortage of conflicting rumors in our industry and
we are not commenting on them," a spokesperson for Lyft told
Business Insider.

Ride-hailing services have been facing mounting competition in a
crowded space. Uber China merged with Didi in a $35 billion deal
in early August. Didi, which averages 11 million rides a day in China as
of June, was proving to be too steep of a competitor for
Uber.

A possible Lyft-Uber deal was what prompted Didi to merge
with Uber, The Wall Street Journal reported in August. Didi reportedly got
nervous when it heard Lyft hired investment bank Qatalyst
Partners, which is known for helping tech companies find buyers,
in June.

"In Uber, Didi and Lyft had a common adversary. Didi and its
Chinese backers had funneled money to Lyft, even making their
systems compatible. The possibility of an Uber-Lyft merger gave
Didi executives pause, giving them the impetus to pursue a deal
with Uber, according to investors," the WSJ reported at the time.

GM, which was reportedly in more serious talks with Lyft than the
other companies, invested $500 million in Lyft to
create self-driving cars and car rental hubs for Lyft
drivers in the US in January. GM is planning to launch its first driverless car on the Lyft
platform.

Lyft, however, isn't in any danger of shutting down with a $1.4
billion cash cushion, the NYT reports.